David Vitter: Marco Rubio ‘nuts’ on immigration

Sen. David Vitter on Wednesday called Florida Sen. Marco Rubio “amazingly naïve” and “nuts” on the issue of immigration and slammed the new bipartisan reform proposal as “ridiculous.”

The Louisiana Republican told “The Laura Ingraham Show” that the blueprint unveiled by a group of eight senators is a plan that mirrors the “same old” failed immigration reform of 1986. Rubio’s belief that enforcement mechanisms will work this time around is “just amazingly naïve,” Vitter said.

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“I love and respect Marco. I think he’s just amazingly naïve on this issue,” Vitter said. “This is the same old formula that we’ve dealt with before, including when it passed in 1986, and that is promises of enforcement and immediate amnesty. And of course, the promises of enforcement never materialize. The amnesty happens immediately — the millisecond the bill is signed into law, and the same is true here. No, they won’t be citizens immediately. They will be legal.”

“Citizenship is guaranteed at that point as a practical matter,” he added.

Vitter said that if the Florida Republican doesn’t think legal status offers a pathway to citizenship, “he’s nuts.”

“Look, as soon as you give these people a legal status, to say that you’re going to reverse that is ridiculous,” Vitter said. “It’ll never happen. As soon as you give them a legal status, they are here legally forever and probably they’re citizens pretty darn soon after. And if Marco thinks no matter what happens or doesn’t happen on the enforcement side that’s not going to happen, I just think he’s nuts.”

Ingraham responded that Rubio has said the proposed commission will determine whether the enforcement is in place and that will then ensure it is “truly comprehensive.”

“Who’s going to appoint this commission?” Vitter replied. “You know Janet Napolitano was a border governor, you know. Are we going to have a commission full of Janet Napolitanos? That’s really going to ensure enforcement, right?”

“Well, you know, I’m trying to play devil’s advocate here as best as I can,” Ingraham said with a laugh.

The radio host added that she thinks Rubio has been “roped into this gang of eight” and that while the senator has the “best of intentions,” she has a number of questions about the proposal’s framework.

Vitter, meanwhile, said Rubio’s comment that he won’t support the final legislation if enforcement mechanisms aren’t in place is “ridiculous” given who the current president is.

“I think it’s particularly ridiculous to say, ‘we really mean it this time, enforcement is going to happen under President Obama.’ It didn’t happen under Reagan, but it’s going to happen under President Obama?” Vitter said.